B8 / B8.5 A4 / S4 Little Surprises

sort of as above with park brake - won't disengage unless your wearing your seatbelt - found out after trying to drive off a couple of times and it wouldn't release - thought for about a minute something being wrong - put seatbelt on and hey presto !!!
 
TerryA said:
sort of as above with park brake - won't disengage unless your wearing your seatbelt - found out after trying to drive off a couple of times and it wouldn't release - thought for about a minute something being wrong - put seatbelt on and hey presto !!!
Click to expand...
I switched this of with the Carista app, can manually dis-engage with seatbelt off, auto dis-engage still only works with seatbelt on.
 
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It was nice to discover my S4 had a 12V socket in the boot, and that the rear seats were 60/40 split folding. Neither of these were standard on the A4.
 
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audi upgrades
There's a 12V socket in the back too, under the heater/air vent. Looks like an ashtray but it's housing a 12V socket. Mine appears to have been pushed too hard by the previous owner and has fallen inside the arm rest housing. Happy with that though as it means my kids wont try to stick their fingers in it....which is the most likely thing to happen if it were there :)
 
Yeah, I know about the 12V in the rear by the ashtray, and in the centre armrest.
Someone has stuck a coin down in the front ashtray 12V on the my car...Going to have to disconnect the battery to try get it out with tweezers.
 
viceroy said:
Yeah, I know about the 12V in the rear by the ashtray, and in the centre armrest.
Someone has stuck a coin down in the front ashtray 12V on the my car...Going to have to disconnect the battery to try get it out with tweezers.
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% sure but I don't think that there is a current if ignition is off. Better check before, might save you hassle with disconnecting battery
 
I'm surprised to find that the coin slots in the centre console are useless. My first 'mis-use' was to put a car-park ticket in there but it fell out on the way to the exit machine and got lost under the passenger seat. Then the other day I used it for a coin. When I returned to get it, it was gone. I found it under the passenger seat :(.
 
bonifacy87 said:
I'm not 100% sure but I don't think that there is a current if ignition is off. Better check before, might save you hassle with disconnecting battery
Click to expand...
Quite correct. Always a PITA when I do my tyre pressures and have to switch the ignition on to use the electric pump to inflate the tyre
BUT, again, this may well be country specific spec. bearing in mind @viceroy is from the Rainbow nation :)
Dippy said:
I'm surprised to find that the coin slots in the centre console are useless. My first 'mis-use' was to put a car-park ticket in there but it fell out on the way to the exit machine and got lost under the passenger seat. Then the other day I used it for a coin. When I returned to get it, it was gone. I found it under the passenger seat :(.
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You need one of these in your life @Dippy :D
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/a4-s4-rs4-b8-5-armrest-tidy-storage-tray.250861/
 
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Not always the best idea, that surge when you reconnect can blow the crap out of things.. Used to happen on MB we have to fit surge protectors or blow the dash
 
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I just metioned this in another thread thought I'd highlight it here. Has anyone notice the reversible spare wheel deck that acts as a dirty catch try etc. a bit like a boot liner.

I use it when moving dirty, wet or spillable stuff.

Just thought I'd mention it to see if anyone's noticed it yet?
 
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Yep, dealer showed me this when I had my previous A4. Always tend to keep mine plastic side up to save the carpet.
 
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Not a surprise or even useful, but have any B8.5 Avant owners noticed that there's now somewhere on the car that says 'Avant'?
Spotted it anyone?? No prize!
As far as I'm aware my last 5 Avants (B6, B7 & 2 x B8) have never had it written on the car, unless I've just missed it!
 
same same - dealer pointed it out when I bought my Avant a month ago - what a brilliant idea !!!!!!
 
Had this car four months and just found there is a diferant display for parallel parking on the rear cam lol
 
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Only camera as far as I know, we get a blue box behind the car and two orange lines that move as we turn the wheels to show the path of the car.

The other is two blue boxes to the left and right rear, you put the box in the space you want and start to reverse in. When the blue line touches the curb you put the other lock on and your in. a few inches from the curb, it's very clever.
 
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Yes, its camera only. Also, for those with electric tailgate, the last line in the normal view (darkest blue box) is the space you need to open the tailgate.

I have been using these graphics for ages, they are clever, our X5 only has the the normal view with the moving lines that is showing the postion you are moving to.
 
My wife keeps freaking out when I park telling me to stop while reversing. I keep saying " IVE GOT A ******* CAMERA!"
 
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I've had a camera on my last 4 cars, I'm very used to it now (so is the wife). It freaks other people out in car parks, I have been hooted and shouted at many times.

I always end up shouting back "I've got a camera!" . I shouted that once at Tesco in Gt. Yarmouth and the woman stood there looking around for the hidden camera!
 
Fctaff said:
Only camera as far as I know, we get a blue box behind the car and two orange lines that move as we turn the wheels to show the path of the car.

The other is two blue boxes to the left and right rear, you put the box in the space you want and start to reverse in. When the blue line touches the curb you put the other lock on and your in. a few inches from the curb, it's very clever.
Click to expand...
I just can't get used to using the lines - they just confuse me. I have to admit that I tend to look in the door mirrors to guide my reversing and only look at the camera to check how far the rear is away from the end point. It is probably just as well as automated parking wasn't an option for the B8 as I doubt that I'd trust it!

Fctaff said:
*******
Click to expand...
How do you pronounce that? :)

Phill_ said:
The camera seems very poor quality on mine
Click to expand...
Are you sure its not a dirty lens?
 
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You might not believe this but I have been using the voice control to say "next track" when I want to skip a track when playing media. I only thought to check the steering wheel controls and knew that I couldn't do it there. I only just realised that the volume knob on the centre console can be moved sideways to perform this function!
 
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Fctaff said:
Only camera as far as I know, we get a blue box behind the car and two orange lines that move as we turn the wheels to show the path of the car.
The other is two blue boxes to the left and right rear, you put the box in the space you want and start to reverse in. When the blue line touches the curb you put the other lock on and your in. a few inches from the curb, it's very clever.
Click to expand...

Well i didnt know that! i found the parallel parking option but never used it - want to try it now


GeoffDunk said:
Yes, its camera only. Also, for those with electric tailgate, the last line in the normal view (darkest blue box) is the space you need to open the tailgate.
Click to expand...

Didnt know that either!

Great stuff guys - really useful
 
I use the voice commands for loads of stuff, the most common is to go home. While at any location, press voice input, speak "home" and it sends you straight there, very cool when my nephews are in the car, they are amazed by it.

As for the camera quality, mine is superb, as I said, my 4th car with one, two Mercs and a BMW and this is the best by some margin and the others weren't bad.
 
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As I was scrolling through the menu this morning looking for how to change the clock back an hour I discovered an option to turn on 'Automatic Air Recirculation'. This will indeed be a nice little surprise if it does what I assume/hope it will do: namely close the external vents and recirculate if it senses entering a tunnel or sitting behind a poisonous old bus/taxi/brand new VW diesel.
 
That's not quite what it does, BMW has a "nose" that sensors bad odour's which does automatically recurc the vents, its an extra and it works great on my wife's X5.

Audi auto recirculation closes the vents when you wash the screen.
 
GeoffDunk said:
Yes, its camera only. Also, for those with electric tailgate, the last line in the normal view (darkest blue box) is the space you need to open the tailgate.
Click to expand...

I had no idea about that, that's really handy. I've been judging it on the rear beeping frequency.

To echo someone else who said thay can't park with the lines - me neither. My OH has a NOX spewing Passat and that camera is spot on I use that to park with ease. Can't put my finger on what it is though.
 
I seem to have Hill Hold Assist 'lite' enabled. As it holds for a short period on hills without me being on the footbrake. I didn't have this on my 2010 S4 or 2012 TFSI.
Maybe it's a additional suprise as this vehicle has TPMS.
 
Scott.T said:
I seem to have Hill Hold Assist 'lite' enabled. As it holds for a short period on hills without me being on the footbrake. I didn't have this on my 2010 S4 or 2012 TFSI.
Maybe it's a additional suprise as this vehicle has TPMS.
Click to expand...
I had hill hold lite on my dec 2013 a4 and 2015 a4 and it's handy as was going to retro fit hill hold but no need with this lite version does what I want.
My dad has a 2012 b8.5 but it not in that and can't be enabled with vcds as I tried.
 
GeoffDunk said:
That's not quite what it does, BMW has a "nose" that sensors bad odour's which does automatically recurc the vents, its an extra and it works great on my wife's X5.

Audi auto recirculation closes the vents when you wash the screen.
Click to expand...

Shame. Not as sophisticated as I thought then. Nor does the button light up; I gave the screen a good long burst of washer fluid and couldn't tell that anything kicked in. Still got a waft of the washer fluid smell but can't recall if it was any less potent than before.
 
Open the drivers door whilst reversing and it automatically puts the hand break on.
You can drive off with no seat belt on By putting your foot on brake pedal and taking the handbrake off.
The little knob (apart from Me) by gearstick, which turns rail on/off and does the volume, not only changes the track on a cd by pushing it left or right also changes the radio channels.
 
The handbrake feature is to stop you doing a "Brian Harvey"

Why would you want to drive without your seatbelt, I'd hardly say that was a feature lol.

Its always makes me chuckle when people find features which I think are pretty obvious, its a shame the knob doesn't skip through tracks too if you hold it to left and right, missed a trick there.
 
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